Coating recommendation

A

andygold

New member
I've read hours and hours of threads over the past few weeks on various forums and I'm still having a hard time figuring out what's best for the particular job at hand. I was hoping others' experiences could make the decision a bit easier.

I'm looking for a coating for a problem vehicle, 2015 Nissan (Super Black). The paint is super soft. Soft to the point where it seems that it scratches just by thinking about it. There are many foot long scratches along the sides of the vehicle as if it was driven through bushes. I'm assuming these were causing by winter coats and hand bags in parking lots. I'm ready to correct the paint (Iron, clay, 2-step), but don't want to do so until I have the right coating in hand, ready to go...

I've used Element 119's System X on a number of cars, and it was a tremendous coating, but Element 119 seems to have disappeared, and I've run out of it, so I'm back to square one.

I have some requirements in the relative order of need:

1) A coating that is harder than the typical OEM clear, that will help to prevent scuffs, scratches swirls.
2) Something that will last at least a full year in Northern New England (think below 0ºF cold, salt, sand, snow) .
3) Something that will be relatively impervious to bird droppings (This area reminds me of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds)
4) A coating that will allow bug remains to be removed without scrubbing (nightly clouds of flying sticky things)
5) Something that sheets more than it beads, due to very hard water and tons of pollen. (Our water actually goes through a softener first, but still water spots heavily, and they're hard to remove without polishing. It spots even while blowing the car dry).
6) A coating that can also be used on semi-gloss and flat black, plastic exterior trim.
7) A coating that does not need specific manufacturer's maintenance products (i.e. topping CQuartz with Reload). I'm looing for something that once done, it's done for the year other than washing and maybe the occasional coat of Permanon, or maybe CarPro Hydro2.
8) Something that has a WOW factor! Maybe a Wet or Candy or liquid glass look.
9) Slickness is not important per se, unless it's necessary for water sheeting (gotta get rid of the water spots and pollen)

I realize there is no BEST product! I'm concerned with each product's strengths vs. its weaknesses...for example, in my #1 request for hardness, If Optimum Gloss Coat was slightly harder than PBL Diamond Surface Coating but the PBL lasted longer, I might try the PBL instead. If two coatings were relatively close in performance but one had a much deeper gloss, that might sway me too.

Some coatings I've researched/reviewed are:
(the top 4 I think are the contenders although not in any particular order, with the remainder being the "also-rans", although maybe some of you have it switched around some).

22ple VX Pro Glass coating
Optimum Gloss-Coat
Pinnacle Black Label Diamond Surface Coating (is this much different than their Diamond Paint Coating? Is the difference just that it's multi surface?)
DP Paint Coating

BF Crystal Coat
DG Enviroshield
CP CQuartz & CQuratzUK (but do they need very specific maintenance products?)
GT EXOv2

Anything worthy I've left out?
 
With your list of must haves......

My suggestion would be Black Label Paint Coating

Too long to list why, but it meets MOST of your requirements, better than the others
 
Look into Gyeon products, proven despite opinions yo the contrary to be the hardest available. From what you say I would suggest MOHs Plus. Also look at wetcoat for maintenance
 
Durability is opticoat gloss coat. I just did a car and it looks great. It's not the slickest or the most hydrophobic but the past versions have been durable and I expect this to be as durable

Exo is the slickest I have used and relatively durable. It's my current favorite but I just got a bottle of 22ple and I plan on using it next weekend.
 
Thanks for the replies! I was hoping for something more like, product A is more durable than product B, Or A is glossier than B, but doesn't sheet as well as C. This way I could make up my own list of plusses and minuses based upon your opinions. But, I do appreciate the responses :) You guys have the experience with multiple coatings, while mine is solely with System X.

After looking further into some of those mentioned, it seems that if it is a Quartz/Ceramic coating, that it REQUIRES specific maintenance products to either boost it or restore the gloss after some period of time. Am I correct in that these Quartz/Ceramic coatings all NEED to be boosted at some later date? That's all well and good if you have regular customers that have you do their maintenance. But if you are detailing in a relatively low-income area where people do all of their own maintenance and want to just wash their DD when it gets dirty..... then touch-up, down the road, maintenance specific products, just won't work for me. I'm going to be seeing these cars maybe once a year.

So, am I correct in that for a long lasting coating that needs no specific maintenance products, then I need to steer clear of quartz/ceramic coatings, and instead get Gloss-Coat (or possibly something else)???
 
Based on your post I have to wonder if you're going to be happy with any coating...it just seem your expecting too much out of them to me. They should all help with the things above, but obviously they don't replace proper care and will degrade if not cared for regularly. Each will excel in their own way and I don't believe any of them are "best" in all the categories you listed.

That being said. CQUK has a long proven track record and Gloss-Coat is super easy to use and looks promising so far. I believe the topping of the glass coatings is to help with spotting while it continues to cure, but I don't believe it's "Required". Many Opti-Coat installers top OCP with something to help with spotting while it cures too, so this isn't limited to just glass coatings IMO. It's also part of the reason they came out with OCP+.
 
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